Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) have recently transitioned to being used as a standard insulator on refrigeration units in the appliance industry. The appliance/refrigerator manufacturers moved towards VIPs, and away from customary urethane spray insulation, to achieve greater efficiency performance and eliminate dangerous chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), in an effort to improve the environment. The R-value performance of a VIP can be much higher than that of common urethane spray insulation, which typically runs between R6-R7/inch. This can give VIPs performance between 6 and 7 times the insulating performance of standard urethane spray insulation.
However, the standard shape of a VIP is a flat panel, which is used within flat rectangular sided units such as refrigerators and temperature controlled shipping containers. Therefore, while it could be beneficial, these flat panel VIPs cannot be used in more complex designs such as hot water heater tanks, expansion tanks, cold water tanks, gas tanks, etc., which frequently require top and bottom dome shapes as well as the side cylindrical shapes to completely surround the tank and provide the best possible insulation and heat loss performance.